The Greene Family

900 letters

2012-02-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

Oh I am feeling the stress...good stress of course... stress to be thankful and excited for...

I first have to say that God is providing....and am so excited to see how he will continue to provide. I am still without a full-time job to replace my previous one, but God has provided so well so far. I am planning on starting to watch a newborn baby girl in April, another hopeful possible job we are waiting to hear about, and another random small job addressing envelopes and letters.... ( It's not exactly small, I have 900 of them to do in one week!! Yikes!)

On top of that I am planning for my precious second born to turn 1 ( sniff, sniff), we are having Ruthann and her family stay with us for a week starting next week, then a quick weekend trip to my parent's to see Rebekah and her family. Matt and Rebekah got asked to speak at a youth conference at my parent's church- way awesome! Then after all that my Mom, Ruthann, Cosette, and I are going to take a long trip down to Arkansas for a friend's wedding.

I am feeling anxious about my to-do list, but know it will get done.... and if it doesn't...that's just fine. :)

I am thankful for my precious children and husband and life that keep me busy and happy. I've got it good!

Here are some recent pictures to update you on life. And I won't be posting until next month... I just can't imagine having the time. :)

We "helped" my parents move to a new house recently. I still don't know why we always go to help... I think we are in the way most of the time. Happily enough, Mom gave me her awesome top-loader high-efficient washer and dryer. Oh my goodness they are so awesome compared to what I had!

I was so so so blessed to help my friend Jennifer while she delivered her sweet boy Asher. She had an amazing natural birth- so proud of her!

Letting the boys meet Asher... I don't think they cared at all :)

Enjoying the warm winter days. :)

Enjoying the warm weather

Love that almost 1-year-old face!

Our very sweaty 2-year-old after he woke up from his nap today...so funny.

Two Goals Started!

2012-01-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day. So wonderful!

I have started two of my new year's goals... no, not a job,,,but almost as fun! :)

I have started memorizing scripture with Adam. I printed off some verses a while ago and got them laminated. There is one for every letter in the alphabet. I'm excited. So I started off with Joshua 24:15- As for me and my house, We will serve the Lord. I made a little song for it so hopefully after a week or so of singing it to him continually, it will stick. That kid knows "Holy, Holy" already..and I didn't even teach him that. So we'll see how it goes.

I also did my first few crafts! I printed off a free template and framed it so I can use it next Christmas. I also had a $.25 garage sale find and did my first modge-podge. I love it. I love that I can also change the pictures as much as I want.

We are enjoying the new year so far. I am enjoying my time off work,,,but hoping it doesn't last too long. :)

I guess I forgot to post pictures from Christmas. We had a good one- busy and fun as usual. Here are some pictures.

Adam and Micah enjoyed each other a lot..even though Adam was sick the whole time.

Aunt Re-Re loves Aaron

Love that face!

We were all super excited about Micah's gift!

I had to show off Re's cute wrapping!

poor sick baby

Sweet brothers on Christmas Eve

Adam's first movie!

Love that face!

Sick baby

Happy to have a new niece- sweet Vera! Wish she didn't live so far away!

The last day of the year....

2011-12-31T15:13:00.001-08:00

Wow-

Here it is...the last day of the year. It has been a great year full of new memories, stress, laughter, love, growth, and uncertainty.

Some of the highlights...

We welcomed our precious second born son early in the year. The delivery went very well and were so happy to have a brother for Adam and another gorgeous boy. He is such a blessing in our lives.

We went on several trips this past year- Colorado twice, camping twice, New Mexico, and several weekend trips to see my parents.

I lost my job..no, I didn't get fired. :) I was blessed with the perfect job for two years. I remember two years ago when my babysitter told me around Christmas that she didn't have much longer to live. It was so heartbreaking. On top of the sadness, there was stress because I wanted to be home with Adam so badly. Evie asked me to work for her and it worked out perfectly time-wise. Now we are trusting Him to provide again. My job is done technically today so now we keep praying and searching for another way I can help provide while at home with my precious sons.

We had a great adjustment having two children. I love our kids and am so excited that they are starting to play together...and get frustrated. :)

My last highlight is labeled "relationships".... On the positive end of that I am thankful that this past year we have become close to Eric and Kim Brumm. We love them. I also got to experience the birth of Abram Jensen and that just blessed my socks off. On the not-so-positive end, this year has been hard to hear of several marriages that have ended or are headed in that direction. It's just so hard to understand. So heavy on my heart. I love my husband...:)

I have some goals this year... all doable I hope :)

- I am going to really try hard to get rid of my sugar addictive. I hope to start tomorrow...we'll see.

- I would like to get my son potty-trained. He just isn't ready yet... and I am! Hoping he's not a 4 year old who still wears diapers. :)

- I would like to get a job, or a few small jobs to pay our bills!

- I have several crafts I would like to do. I love pinterest and am enjoying the ideas it gives me.

- I have several organizing tasks that need to be done.

- I want to be a better Momma... a much more patient mom. I love those kids and want to show them Christ through my example. I also want to play and read to them more. They are growing up so quickly and I don't want my to-do list to be more important than them..because it's not.

- I want to memorize scripture with Adam. He is a sponge right now...

I have more, but that looks like plenty right now.

Have a good rest of the year!

I was never going to be that Mom....

2011-12-21T18:16:00.000-08:00

Humbled, yet again. :)

I was always going to be that Mom who always knew exactly what her kids were doing at all times and who never had horror stories of her kids doing unthinkable things. I was wrong. I can say in my own defense I almost ALWAYS know exactly what is going on with my boys.

Yesterday Aaron woke up from his nap. Adam loves going up to his crib and play around with him until Aaron usually gets frustrated. :) Two minutes after Adam went up there I followed him up. I thought the room reeked...which isn't uncommon after naps from my precious second-born. :) I then looked at Adam standing in the crib without his pants or diaper ( I know...he should be potty trained...we are working on it:) For some unknown reason Adam had done numbers 1 and 2 all over the crib. He then told me that Aaron is eating the poo poo. Oh my goodness! Aaron had it in both of his hands. I grabbed him so quickly and got him cleaned up. Thankfully it was an easy clean, but still....that was the most disgusting "mother" story I have had so far. I hope it doesn't get worse than that. It probably will though, someday..especially with two sons. :)

I just had to laugh and keep a sense of humor about it. Really, it's funny..right?

And oh so disgusting!

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Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. We are excited to spend time with family. We will be heading to the Quad Cities then back here to spend time with Rebekah and her boys for a day or so.

Thanking the Lord for a sense of humor and a reason to celebrate this season

Merry Christmas!!!

Catch Up Time!

2011-12-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long. I feel like things are slowing down a little, at least for a few days. We are looking forward to the holidays with family and friends.

Adam has actually been acting a little better. I know the terrible 2's aren't over, but I'm praying more for wisdom and praying for him.

Aaron has been getting into everything. I have chairs all set up around our plants so he doesn't double fist it again. :) He is now crawling up the stairs. I don't think it will be much longer until he's walking... so crazy!

I am still looking and praying for a stay-at-home job. I only have a few weeks left. I am nervous, but know it will work out. :)

I can't get enough of these lately. My boys love them also :)

We ended Amos' long birthday celebration with a night out in Des Moines with the Vinchattle's. We went to the steakhouse of his choice. It was fun.

Adam and his best friend Alex

We had the Greene Christmas the next day. It was a wonderful night. The boys got a fun train table that they both enjoy. We had it early because Nancy just went to Switzerland for a month to be there for Lydia and her family. She had a sweet baby girl this morning, Vera Elizabeth. Can't wait to meet her in May.

Amos turned 30 in the beginning of December. I had a good time showering Amos with 30 gifts 30 days before he turned 30. He enjoyed opening gifts every day, or should I say Adam really enjoyed it. Most of his gifts were partially open before he got to them.

His last gift to open was a night in a hotel all by ourselves. It was great! We even had a hot tub in our room. The only problem was the missing parts to my pump that were accidentally left at home. It was an uncomfortable night, but I survived. :)

Me and my old husband!

Celebrating Amos' 30th Birthday with our dear friends, Kim and Eric

I had to get a picture of Aaron's first night away from us. Growing up!

Adam on his way to the Greene's.

We had a great time in Colorado for Thanksgiving. The trip was long, but we survived. The Jizmejian's have a beautiful place to live. They are surrounded by mountains. Their cabin (home) is wonderful. I'm not sure how we all slept there, but we did. We were all happy we are pretty laid-back with all the chaos. It was pretty chaotic sometimes with three dogs, 6 kids 2 and under, and 7 adults. It was another memory-making week though. I am so happy we got to see where they live. Beautiful!

The Hamby Family

The Greene's

All 6 of them

Me and my Matt

All the ladies of the family

Man he's good looking :)

Me and my sweet niece

Two adorable guys

My bestest bestest friends

The Greene's

Why wasn't I asked to be in this sibling picture? :)

Oh DeWayne...

The Greene's

Three oldest kiddos

Celebrating Ryan's 18th Birthday

Papa with his only granddaughter

Thanksgiving Meal at Summit with the Jizmejians

Feeling blue...

2011-12-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

This has been a long week...

Please help me! I need some parenting advice. I have a two-year old... and it's near terrible! :)

No, my Adam is still sweet and lovable and so smart and funny, but this week he has been testing me... a lot! :)

The Lord is always humbling me. I am being stretched and excited to grow as a parent.

Do any of my blog readers have any good parenting books you would recommend I read?

I know this will pass, but I want to be the best parent I can be. I want my children to respect us as parents and most importantly obey and respect the Lord.

I love being a parent....it's the best thing ever. I just need to go to bed and start a new day. :)

We have been busy, very busy. Amos turned 30 last weekend. We celebrated all weekend long.

I will post pictures soon. I want to go to bed. :)

Also, if you would, please pray I find another job to help provide for our family. I will be pretty much unemployed at the end of the month. Amos and I are kind of stressed out about it, but know it will work out...just waiting to see how it will end up.

More to come soon.

Thankful Tuesday!

2011-11-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for so much. I don't have a certain individual person I am blogging about tonight, just an overall expression of thanks for all the Lord has blessed me with.

We are headed to Colorado tomorrow for a fun Thanksgiving weekend. We are going to drive to the Johnson's in Denver to sleep for a few hours then head down to the Jizmejian's. Overall I think it will be 18 hours in the car one way. Wow... not looking forward to that! :) I am praying that the boys will be okay and will stay entertained by Uncle Ry Ry or Papa or Zucco or Grandma or Amos...

Could you please pray I find another job? My current one is ending next month and I am in need of something else to fill that financial need. God has been good by providing some small jobs but it's not quite enough. I wish I didn't have to work at all, but I do. I am only interested in jobs I can do with my kiddos around me. I can't imagine not seeing them all day. Love those boys.

Anyway, thanks for praying. I have a peace that it will work out...just waiting for it to be revealed.

I am thankful for this cute little chef who loves to help me cook or bake. Sweet boy!

Thankful for a fun night with a lot of friends to see "Wicked". It was nice to get out and enjoy!

I am so thankful for this precious boy who is such a good boy. He's just so pleasant and happy..and he learned to crawl. He is into everything! I love seeing him explore. I can't believe he is 9-months old today. I feel like he is growing way too quickly! Love him!

And getting stuck in the piano. He thought he was pretty cool for this one. :)

I am thankful for this small part-time job addressing envelopes for a business in Ames. It was very time consuming and 500+ letters done, I am ready to give my hand a rest. :)

I am thankful I was home to take care of my sick boy. We all have been sick this week. Adam had it the worst. He just laid on the couch all day and moaned. Poor baby. Glad we are a bit healthier before our trip tomorrow.

Thankful for a 95-year old Great Grandma who is the life of the party. :)

I am so thankful for so much... and so thankful for so many wonderful people in my life.

Thank you Lord for your abundant blessings! It's too much to comprehend sometimes.

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Thankful for YOU Tuesday!

2011-11-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

Yep, I might of skipped a couple of weeks of doing this...but I meant well!

Back to it...

Today I am thankful for my friend Janna- the newly Mrs. Usher!

Janna was my first and best friend during my time in New Mexico. She was my outlet and one of my favorite people to spend time with. I met her at church when I moved down there. We were in bible study together and became close quickly.

Janna was such a good friend to me when my time in New Mexico ended abruptly. She helped me move out of my home and then move my stuff into her home. Then she was kind enough to drive me back to Iowa in the middle of the night...that was a long trip back :)

Then she came to our wedding the next year. Thanks Janna- that meant a lot.

I got to see Janna and Chad get married back in September. It was so good to see Janna and meet her new husband plus see a lot of other friends.

So Janna, if you read this- thanks for being a great, loyal friend throughout the years. I'm so happy we don't have to see each other every day to be good friends. I look forward to many more years of friendship with you, even if it's over the phone. I'm excited to see what God is going to do in your life.

I love you!

Flashback Friday

2011-10-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

I can't believe it's almost November! I sat down last night and looked at our upcoming calendar until the end of the year...it is filling up way too quickly!

Life has been great lately. Amos is finally slowing down so we might have a husband/father again soon. We are all ready for that!

Amos and I are actually leaving the house tonight without children. We are super excited to hang out together and with friends.

I had to compare the two boys in the same costume, in the exact same location two years apart. I think they kind of look like each other! :)

Our beautiful hazel eyed son

Our beautiful blue eyed son

Date night!

___________________________________________________________________

Now back

to Flashback Friday-

These are from Dustin and Julie's wedding on a very cold October day back in 2005.

We had just

returned home from our honeymoon and were so excited to

be in their wedding with a lot of our friends.

It was a beautiful wedding!

Flashback Friday

2011-10-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Flashback Time...from 2004 again.

This then-young boy is now looking at colleges and it makes me want to cry. He is awesome. I get to see him tomorrow. He is playing soccer in Des Moines so him and some friends are going to come over and spend the night tomorrow night. I love having him around, so does Adam.

Thankful for YOU Tuesday!

2011-10-18T18:44:00.001-07:00

So I am not very good with words...not very good at at all.

I am envious of people who can talk beautifully and have all the right words to say. I talk too fast, I mumble, I am sometimes hard to understand... but I mean well!

I have been convicted lately that I need to bless my friends and family with affirmations, something that I need to work on.

I love people... lots of people... and I am not good at letting them know that. I'm sorry!

So I want to start affirming my friends and family every Tuesday. I want you all to know that I love you and am so thankful for you. I might not tell you verbally that I think you are awesome, so here is my chance. :)

Who to start with????

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Let's start with one of my eight awesome brother-in-laws...

Mr. Matt Johnson

Dear Matt,

I first heard about you dating my sister back in ...well...was that 2003? I was living in New Mexico at the time and was so excited to meet you. I first met you when you came home from Iowa with Rebekah and came to see me at Wilson Toyota. I liked you right away.

You made me laugh, and still do today.

I love bragging that you were Herky at the University of Iowa. So cool. :)

You meshed so well with our family. I barely remember our lives without you.

Thank you for marrying my sister who loves you, thank you for being an awesome Daddy to my sweet nephews, and thank you for being my cuddle partner and back-rubbing buddy.

I think you are awesome.

I love you

Rachel

Flashback Friday

2011-10-14T20:56:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday...almost Saturday....

I got a new laptop and am finally able to organize all my pictures from 2004 to present (before that I had a film camra... no digitals yet) so I thought it would be fun to post an older picture or two every Friday.

We'll see if I stick to it. :)

Have a great weekend!!!

This was a fun memory from 2004 at Amy and Bret Crim's wedding. I had just returned back to Iowa from my time in New Mexico and was so happy to see everyone. The wedding was wonderful, Amy looked amazing, and I loved being back with great friends. Time sure goes quickly!

Sick day at the Greene's

2011-10-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

So much to do....

so little importance...

Adam has a fever today...which means a lot of holding, kissing, cuddling, and movie-watching. I love being a Mommy...these are the days I dreamed of as a child....taking care of my own sick kids...and weirdly enough it makes me feel so blessed to have my own sick kids to care for.

This weather is amazing. Just amazing. Yesterday my sister, Rebekah, and her men came by for a quick visit. We had a wonderful time with them. Adam and Micah had a few problems sharing, but overall it was awesome. They help hands a lot when they walked around. So precious.

We went to the local pumpkin patch and it was amazing. I want to go back! The kids (and Matt) had a blast.

I wish Amos could get some time off so we could go as a family. He is so busy, so busy and so stressed that he couldnt' actually sleep last night. I felt horrible. Please pray for him if you get a minute. He's a very hard-working guy who is needed by so many right now. I feel bad for my babies who rarely see him. Hopefully with all this nice weather harvest will be done before Thanksgiving! :)

Me and my sister, Rebekah

One of a few times they walked and held hands

Aaron enjoying the corn pool

We love Uncle Matt!

Look at this cutie, Mr. Mathias

Me and my charming Ryan

Back to Real Life...

2011-09-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

I am so incredibly happy to be home again and know I am staying home... mostly. I am headed out of town this weekend with my boys for a wedding... then I am really home for sure. :)

New Mexico was good and emotional all at the same time. Even though it had been seven years since I left, I felt remembered and loved by so many. I love my friends there. Thank goodness for the internet, it helps not feel like it has been so many years between visits. I loved spending time with them all.

Aaron was such a great baby. He did so well on the plane rides. His smile made everyone swoon. :)

I was so happy for my dear friend Janna. I'm so happy she met the man of her dreams!

I missed Adam so much. He had way too much fun with my parents and brother. I am so thankful they could hang out with him.

Now I am home and enjoying getting back into our routine. I have been so busy. This has been the first week where I feel like I am finally catching up with life.

Just a side-note. I love my boys so much. I am enjoying them more and more each day. Adam's vocabulary seems to grow each day. He is so funny and makes us laugh. He makes up a songs about cows and now sings Jesus Loves Me, Happy Birthday ( He sang that to my Mom like 50 times today), Joy Joy Down in My Heart...Where? It's so fun.

We are learning to go potty on the big boy potty. I am open to any advice if anyone has any!

Aaron is such a joy. I think he is much more laid back then Adam was. Him and Adam get along and I can't wait for them to be older and be best friends.

Amos is busy in the fields. We don't see him a lot... but love it when we do!

Bed time!

Me and my good-looking wedding date

Me and one of my favorite ladies ever, Susan

Aaron's first time flying...such a sweet boy

28 years old and happy...

2011-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm about to head out to New Mexico for the weekend....but I wanted to tell the few of you who read this that I will be back next week and have a lot of pictures and life happenings to update.

I turned 28 yesterday. It started out as a difficult day, but after many phone calls from family and friends and a great dinner it ended up being one of the best birthdays ever. Amos even surprised me with a new laptop! I'm so excited.

So, keep staying with me.... I wish I could make more time to keep my blog updated, it just hasn't happened.

Until next time-
Rachel

My Man....

2011-08-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

My hunk-a-liciuos husband and I went on a wonderful date last night. I had my first experience riding on a motorcycle! I was very scared at first but trusted Amos ( and God!) and we ended up having a wonderful time. We wore helmets... as dorky as they are... but I couldn't help thinking about our precious boys who still need some parents around and got over my vanity. :) The weather has been picture-perfect. I loved having my arms wrapped around that guy. :)

Tonight we are headed to Minneapolis to visit Amos' Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle. We plan on visiting the Mall of America. I think Adam will really enjoy it.. especially Lego World. ( And it's free to visit! ) I think we will also dine at the Rainforest Cafe. I am SO excited to have my first experience shopping at IKEA. I have heard from so many people how wonderful it is. It's kind of our last little get-away before the dreaded Harvest season starts.

Hopefully I'll come back with lots of fun pictures and memories.

Have a great weekend!!

Playing in the rain...

2011-08-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had an enjoyable night playing in the rain. Amos got Adam a bucket to collect the rain. He had a blast. Love the warm summer nights.

What a ham!!

Mr. Blue eyes

Oh that smile melts my heart!

Oh and his kisses melt my heart also :)

So I hung this on the boy's wall. I still have a huge blank canvas wall that I need to decorate. I love this website that I found called pinterest. It is extremely addicting and so much fun. I am getting all sorts of fun ideas for decorating my house someday and good recipes.

Spending time with my first-born sweetie

Enjoying bath time at my parents

Being a ham... again :)

Sweet boy

Hello!

2011-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry my blog updates haven't been updated as much as I would like. I could say I've had such a busy summer that I haven't had much time....which is true...but I think next season might even be the same....and the next...which is just fine. I like being busy and continuing to enjoy our life with our sweet boys and wonderful family and friends.

I am going to spend the weekend at my 'rents and Uncle Ry-Ry. I don't know who is more excited. I heard Ry is telling all his friends that his nephews are coming to town. Ryan is on the search for a great college for next year....he wants to play soccer. He is very talented!

Adam and Aaron are doing well. I am trying to get Adam more and more comfortable with the toilet. He's not quite ready, but enjoys sitting on it and talking about it. I'm sure it won't be too much longer... hopefully. :) His vocabulary grows by the day. I love talking and singing with him. Aaron is starting to eat some rice cereal. He was ready for it already- a month before Adam started. He is a bigger eater (as you can tell by the pictures) and it has caused a much better night of sleeping. He has been a great sleeper, but this made the almost 12-hour night awesome. Hope it continues!

We don't have a lot of plans the rest of the summer. Amos starts harvest season soon so hopefully we can get another camping trip in or a fun family get-away.

Here are some pictures!

After Aaron's first night of food. I tried to keep him clean!

Me and my friend Becca before the pain started kicking in. I was SO blessed to be a part of her delivery. I was friends with her husband Luke in high school. She did a perfect job having a natural birth. She welcomed little Abram into this world beautifully. I am still excited about it. It makes me want to be a douala as a job someday... even though I would love just helping any friends that might want to go the natural way. Let me know friends! :)
Mr. Adam helping make Grandma Wooldridge's birthday pie. He loves helping me cook!

Helping "GG Grandma" blow out her candles.

This amazing full rainbow we saw while driving the other day. It was the brightest rainbow I had ever seen. How can you not believe and worship a God who creates things like that?

My little slobber-face. Love that face! :)

Adam practicing on his "frog" toilet.

Amos and I went on a date last night. We had such a wonderful time. It was our first date without kids in a while. We enjoyed going on a "progressive" date, walking around an area like we did when dating, and even seeing where we are going to be buried someday. Romantic, huh? I seriously didn't know... :)

Happy July!!!

2011-07-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

Happy July!

We are so happy to be home and settled in. It feels like we haven't been home in a long time.

We had an excellent vacation in Colorado with our family. Our few days of a peaceful family vacation in the mountains were perfect. The house was amazing and the weather was perfect.

After our relaxing time, we went back to the Denver area and had a great time with the whole family- all 15 of us, including 6 children 2 and under. Talk about fun! :)

We went to the zoo, went to a couple of parks, ate a lot of great food ( thanks to an organized sister who had a lot of the food premade and frozen so we could eat... pretty impressive for a lady who had a 10-day old baby), played games, ate, and laughed a lot. I love my family!!

We got back for a couple of days then went to our church conference. We had a great time and got little sleep. The boys did pretty well... besides our 2-year old acting like a 2-year old. We're praying and learning as we go- any advice is appreciated! :)

Time to get my babies. Both want their mother!

Cutie Aaron in Adam's hat :)

Some of the boys at the conference. This wasn't an easy picture to take! :)

Adam in a tree

Adam loved the horses... from far away

Me and my boys at the lake

Here are the rest of the pictures from Colorado. We had too many to post.

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I really shouldn't be blogging right now...

2011-06-19T18:51:00.001-07:00

I have a lot to do tonight before we go to Colorado tomorrow, but I think blogging would be much more fun. :) I didn't even know they had so many new, fun backgrounds.

We are looking forward to driving to Colorado tomorrow night. We are driving through the night to hopefully ease the pain of making two young children sit in their car seats for 12 hours. Dad and Ryan are driving with us. We will meet everyone else once we get there. The Greene's are looking forward to a few days of relaxation at the cabin up in the mountains before we enjoy the chaos of 6 children 2 and younger. I can't complain- we did this to ourselves! :)

We have been busy! Today we spent time together for Father's Day. Sadly we didn't have too much fun due to the long list of tasks before we leave.

Look at that Father of my children. So incredibly gorgeous (even though he is trying to spray me with water)

The gorgeous man and my gorgeous sons, all dressed in plaid today. I didn't really plan that. :)

Look at this adorable chunker. Love that smile! :)

Last week we went camping with some of our dear friends. We had so much fun! It stormed the first night but after that it was beautiful. We enjoyed using our boat finally. Both boys fell asleep every time we got on. It was kind of nice! :)

Our beautiful friend Kim with our beautiful Adam

Isn't he adorable? That dimple melts my heart every time I see it!

Our muscle-man. Thanks Grandma Greene for this wonderful find. It probably wouldn't save Adam's life if he were to be in the water long, but it would keep him up long enough for us to get to him. Nice peace of mind.

The Greene's on our boat.

Some other pictures from June...

The beautiful Vinchattle crew before we headed to the pool.

This is for Cosette, but I couldn't resist putting it on Aaron. I think he might make a pretty girl. He'll kill me for this picture someday! :)

Adam loves his Uncle Ry-Ry. We enjoyed watching him play state soccer. He didn't win, but played awesome as usual.

At the end of last month, Adam turned 2! We had a smaller little party at the park. It was cold outside, but the birthday boy didn't mind a bit!

Our birthday tradition with our big boy

Adam enjoying his whipped cream after they sang to him

He wasn't sure what was going on. He enjoyed it though:)

Adam enjoying his icing at his birthday party

Our big 2-year old and his teddy bear

Adam was overwhelmed with Grandma's! :) He kept looking around and saying "More grandma's, more grandma's and more grandma's!" He loves them all so much!

Life update in pictures....

2011-05-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is our life.... we have a growing chubby little 3-month old who we are in love with!!! :) He is still a Momma's boy but that's okay. He is sleeping very well, almost through the night. His giggles and smiles light up my day. Love this chunky monkey!!

Last weekend I took the boys to visit my family. We had a wonderful time. Uncle Ry-Ry even watched Adam one night so Mom and I could go out. It was wonderful!!

Adam enjoyed helping Papa cut his plants. I wasn't a fan of allowing Adam to hold this. It only lasted a few minutes. :)

Aaron... and his usual face. He does smile! :)

Look at those eyes! He is going to be a heart-throb!!

Brothers- Aaron has started to enjoy watching his big brother. He laughs at him now and it just melts my heart. :)

Our sweet new niece- Cosette- who was born in April. She is so cute and we can't wait to meet her! I call her Coco but Ruthann calls her Coci.

Our adorable nephew, Rafferty. We are going to Colorado next month and are so excited to be there with the whole family. Rebekah will have her newborn also. So excited to get all 6 cousins together. It's going to be madness! We are going to stay in a cabin on Grand Lake for a few days while we are in Colorado. We will enjoy a few days just as the Greene family. We are soooooo looking forward to it!!

My first Mother's Day as a mother of 2. So fun and so typical!!!

I love my boys

2011-04-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

I love boys... and my life with them!

7 weeks later....

2011-04-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it has been a while. I feel like my life is just now getting a bit more organized and scheduled.

( I bought a marker board so I can make my daily lists of things to do...I love seeing things crossed off. It makes me feel super productive... even though I don't always get things done. Updating my blog has been on there for a while :)

These past 7 weeks with our bundle of joy has been... joyful! :)

We are enjoying getting into a better routine and sleeping more than a few weeks go. I forgot what it is like to be sleep deprived, and I don't miss it at all. Aaron is sleeping from 7 at night until 6ish in the morning. I feed him about twice through the night. Not bad for a 7 week old!

Aaron is just starting to smile some. I forgot how joyful that can be! He is getting some cute double chins and I love kissing them. :)

Adam is doing pretty well also. He loves Aaron, even though he sat on him today. :) He is saying so many things lately and is so funny. We can't believe he will be 2 next month. So crazy.

Amos is working in the fields a lot lately and isn't even seeing the boys which is hard for me and the kiddos. Adam needs his Daddy right now! ( Me too! )

I read the book 1000 gifts and loved it. I am journaling my gifts. I thought about sharing them on my blog, but I think I decided to keep them to myself. It has been a good challenge though.

Last weekend we got to spend time with my family. The Johnson's were here from Denver and my parents came also. It was short and sweet. We had fun with Micah. We drove to Iowa City to watch Ry-Ry play soccer. Mom got the kids matching shirts to help cheer him on. Adam constantly says "Go Ry-Ry Go" and explains that Ry kicked the ball and acts it out. Very sweet.

We are looking forward to summer. We have enjoyed the nicer weather. Adam needs to get out of the house. He could be outside all day long if I let him.

Well, time for some pictures to illustrate all we have been up to lately.

Please Pray

2011-04-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

I know I have so much catching up to do on my blog... it's on my to-do-list!

But, before I get to that I ask that you pray for a sweet classmate of mine that was unexplainably murdered this past week. She was working as a realtor at a condo in Des Moines and someone came in and shot her twice. Please pray for her family and that they will have some leads and find the person who did this to her. It's still so unimaginable.

Thanks!

More later.....

Aaron Isaac Greene

2011-02-24T18:24:00.000-08:00

We have a new son- a beautiful son who is such a gift.

We are home from the hospital and so happy to be here.

Here is the birth story if you are interested in reading!

Like I said in my last post, my water broke Monday night. I got home and packed things up, sent Adam off, and decided to go on into the hospital. Sadly I wasn't very dilated when I got there so it started off a bit frustrating. I went through a while with no contractions. Aaron's heart rate was going kind of weird so they monitored that for a while. It ended up just fine.

I did some things to get my labor going myself and it worked very well. I don't remember what time the contractions got bad, but it happened. I was on the ball trying to "roll through them"- ha! :)

Then came transition time and it was bad. I got in the tub trying to relieve the pain a bit.. it might of helped a little? :) I was in there for an hour or so I believe. I went from 5 cm to 10 cm in that time. It was rough. The contractions were intense and so hard... still remembering the pain. :)

Then came the enormous urge to push. My nurse told me I better not give birth in the bathtub. They got me out of there very quickly, put me on the bed, and within 5 minutes and a couple pushes we welcomed Aaron into this world. I was able to grab him and put him on my chest which was awesome. They left him there for a while and let us bond. He was super alert and oh- so precious.

Overall it was a wonderful delivery and so thankful it went so well. I loved that I could do it naturally again and SO thankful I didn't have to push for 2 hours like with Adam. :)

They wrote his weight on the board incorrectly so this whole time I thought I had a baby that was 7"1 just a few ounces bigger then Adam. Thank goodness we took a picture of his scale because it was actually 7"14. I can't believe I had a baby that big.

Adam loves the "bebe" and has been so well behaved through it all. I think he loves all the people around and attention he is getting. He'll be a great big brother.

Here are a couple pictures of our week so far. I need to post them on facebook also... someday.... I would much rather just spend time with all my boys. :)

So tired....more later!

Baby Coming Soon!!!

2011-02-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

I should be sleeping... but so excited to sleep. I was at Starbucks this evening with my dear friend Katy and we were chatting about my last pregnancy and how the percentages of waters that break before delivery aren't very high. Not long after that I thought it felt like I peed my pants again. I went to the bathroom and couldn't quite figure out what to do. I quickly got out, got my stuff, and drove home.

So, the Vinchattle's just picked up Adam ( so emotional to see him go ) my friend Maria is here to help be a doula, both my mommas are here, and we are off.

So looking forward to it- and think it's so funny my Mom was home for 2 hours before I called her to come back.

More news coming soon,,, I hope!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

The day is wrapping up... and I am about down for the night. I just wanted to post some of my new pictures from our wonderful photographer friend Rebekah Stephenson who took some pics of me while pregnant and Adam being about 18 months old. Wow- it wasn't easy to take pictures of him. Such a busy little boy.

I am about 10 days away from my due date. I had Adam 10 days early so maybe tomorrow something fun will happen. Today has been my first day of braxton hicks. It gets me excited. I didn't have any signs of labor with Adam before my water broke, so this is all new to me. My back is hurting a lot also, so I am expecting some back labor this time. We'll see.

I am just praying for a safe delivery, that the delivery will be perfect time wise so we can figure out Adam and my Mom can make it on time, and that the delivery will be all natural like Adam's....I just don't want to push for 2 hours this time. :)

Thanks for praying!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=614811&id=703425526&l=cb72393de9

Getting close.....

2011-02-01T18:55:00.001-08:00

Here I am at 36/37 weeks. I'm definitely feeling like I am ready for this pregnancy to be over with. :) I don't have a lot to complain about besides an achy back and not sleeping as well as usual. It's so hard to roll over and get up in the middle of the night then I lay awake and think about stuff... like all the stuff I need to do still. :)

We get our new carpet in two of our rooms upstairs next Tuesday. I am so looking forward to that. It has been quite a job moving the rooms around, painting, moving around furniture and closets, and moving our office downstairs. I will post some new pics up after everything is done.

Praying for an early delivery....just because. :)

The Lord has been good to me.... so good. So looking forward to seeing his goodness with our new little baby boy or girl.... what will it be? :)

I don't ever want to eat another sweet again!!

2011-01-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

Well, until tomorrow at least. :)

The wonderful holiday season is over. It was fun, hectic, stressful, but overall wonderful as usual. I spent a week at my parent's house in DeWitt and spent a lot of time with my siblings and family. It was fun. It was fun to have the baby boys together. The only horrid part was the sickness that every person in the family got while we were all together. Every day was someone different. Glad that's over!!

I had the siblings over to our house for a few days and celebrated the New Year's with them. It was difficult staying up to 12..... we are getting old!!! :)

We presented Dad with his almost 100 birthday cards he got from friends and family. Sadly someone had spilled the beans so it wasn't a surprise. Oh well. He is enjoying reading his three cards a day to make it last. :)

This week has been nice getting back to normal. We are busy getting our house ready for this little baby who is coming very quickly!!! We are moving rooms around, getting carpet, painting, and decorating.

I am about 32/33 weeks of my pregnancy and still doing well. I have loved this pregnancy so far. This last midwife appointment was the first time I had gained weight since I got pregnant which has been nice but unusual. I think it had to do with all the food I ate over Christmas. The baby is kicking and moving a lot which is wonderful. We still haven't decided on a name for this child- kind of making me nervous. Amos is so certain it's a girl that he isn't really thinking of a boy name. I'm not so sure though. I just don't know...... We will see soon!! :)

God is Good!!!

2010-12-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

I can finally talk about the fact that all of us girls are having another baby! Batch number two... so exciting. Different order, maybe different sexes, different delivery dates, but same excitement and anticipation as before. So happy we are all three pregnant together at the same time. God is good!!!

We are loving this wonderful holiday season. I looked at my calendar today and realized I need to get organized. There is a lot to do... but it seems like all fun stuff so I won't complain. I have the whole family coming in for Christmas. We are so excited!!!

We will decorate our tree tomorrow. We'll see how Adam does with that. :)

Adam has been sick lately... no fun. I should be thankful that it took him a good 18-months before I had to clean up throw up. He is getting better now and running after his Daddy. He's so sweet.

Thanksgiving was great. We had a great time with the Greene/Wilcox side over in Iowa City. Adam was an entertainer to all. He loves attention!!

Amos just celebrated his 29th Birthday. Due to Adam being sick, we were stuck at home but were very thankful for Amos' best friend Tyler and his girlfriend to bring over a steak dinner. It was a nice surprise for Amos!

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and feeling very good. I can't really believe how quickly this is going. Once this busy Christmas season is over, I won't have much time left. So exciting!!!

That's life wrapped up! Who knows when I will find time to blog again... I bet I will have some great pictures from Christmas. I am looking forward to Adam being older this year and probably enjoying Christmas more.

Have a great Christmas! God is good!!

Happy Fall!

2010-11-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

October sure flew by quickly! The month ended up well with my family visiting. We were able to watch our little bro run state cross country which was fun. We also dressed up our little boys as cowboys. Sadly the costumes didn't stay on too long. We had fyb spending quality time together. I loved having my siblings at my house. We laughed a lot! Now to look forward to Christmas. Below is the link to more pictures of October if you want to see them. I assume most people who read this blog have facebook, but you never know.

Enjoy November!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=546242&id=703425526&l=cef4bb9dab

Greene Update

2010-10-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Half Way There!
We went to the midwife yesterday and got to see the baby and check on everything. He or She is looking great and growing quickly. I am feeling a lot of movement. God is so good to us!

This past weekend we went to DeWitt to visit the family. We got to see Ryan get third in his cross country race. He is so good! I love his humbleness! He stood there and congratulated every other runner. Love that kid!

We also spent some time at a local pumpkin patch. My friend Julie and her son Uriah joined us. I couldn't believe how hot it was for October! I'm not complaining! Adam loved the pony ride. It was fun.

We are still praying hard for my family as they are trying to sell their house and find jobs. God WILL provide! Looking forward to seeing how it works out.

And.... my sisters are coming at the end of the month and I can't wait! I just can't wait.

That's it for now!!!

Isn't he beautiful?

2010-10-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

Sick Baby.....

2010-09-29T19:46:00.001-07:00

The "cage" crib that Adam and I slept in that night- or didn't sleep in it!

Can you tell my baby is sick? This was one of his highs. Him and Amos were trying to drive the sink with full sound effects. :)

We are home from an eventful weekend. Saturday night was not fun...... from 10:00 on Adam was screaming and crying. We would get a few minute break every once and a while, but pretty much none of us slept that night. I was being stubborn and thought it was just teething, but it was more than that! Early that morning we went to the ER to see what was going on with him. We were in there for hours.... they finally told us he had pneumonia/bronchitis. Sadly we had to stay overnight. Everything went well. We had plenty of people visit us and keep Adam busy. He had a hard time staying in one room all day. He hated the treatments they gave him! Poor guy. The medicines they gave him made him hyper for a bit which was funny- but not at 3:00 in the morning when they had to wake him for another treatment.

Overall, for as eventful and tiring the weekend was, we are happy to be home and have a boy who is getting much better. He is back to sleeping all through the night and acting much happier.

Thank you all for praying.

Happy Birthday Momma!

2010-09-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

Today is my Momma's birthday-

Happy Birthday Mom!

I am so blessed that you are my mom, that you are one of my best friends- that you are so so full of life- that you are a wonderful gift giver- that you love your family so much- that you are a perfect Grandma who loves her boys- that you are a hard working, loving Godly woman. You are beautiful inside and out-
I love you!!!

Lately....

2010-09-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Life is passing my by quickly. When I look to see how much I have (or haven't ) blogged lately, I am surprised to see how quickly a month goes by. This is life I suppose!

Life has been great! Busy, as usual, but great.

Adam and I spent some time at my parent's a couple weekends ago and had a great time as usual. If you think about it, please pray for them. They are looking for a job/ needing to sell their house... kind of stressful!

I had a great 27th Birthday! My in-laws happily took Adam for the night which was a nice break. I was about to take a much-needed little nap when the doorbell rang and a great-looking black guy was there with some pretty flowers. He took the rest of the day off. It was so awesome! We enjoyed ourselves and had fun bowling, eating out at a new restaurant in Ames, then going to a movie. It was one of the best birthdays I have had in a few years.

I started BSF ( Bible Study Fellowship) today and am really excited to be involved and grow in my spiritual walk. It will challenge me a lot which is great. I'm looking forward to it- and they have great childcare provided. They not only help watch the kiddos- they teach them about Jesus. So cool.

Amos is almost non-existent right now. Harvest season has started! He is such a hard worker! This year will be the hardest with a baby who knows more of his Daddy and wants to be around him more than last year.

Our second baby is growing quickly. I am feeling so much better. Naps aren't a necessity anymore, just a desire... and I have an appetite again!

That's life in a nutshell. Thanks for reading our update!

Canada, eh!

2010-08-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

We are home from the beautiful country of Canada. So happy to be home!
We had a great time.

Quick summary of our trip:

It was freezing cold and rainy the first couple days. Me and Adam never left the cabin. We had cabin fever for sure!

We had two cabins close together which was nice.

They had several bear sitings at the camp ground. I was paranoid. Glad they never came to my cabin!

We ate fish- a lot of fish. I didn't want to eat it and didn't think I would like it. It was quite the opposite. It was wonderful and fun to think it had been caught right before we ate it. I am pretty fished out now... the thought of it makes me kind of sick. :)

Adam loved the ducks. Him and Brett were the best of friends. Every time he saw Brett he said quack quack- bye bye and stood by the door. It was funny. He loved them!

We went blueberry picking one afternoon. It was fun. We found a lot of fresh blueberries that had never been touched by anyone before. Talking about organic!

We went to a local dump one day to see the bears. There were wild and not caged in. The trash people were used to tourists visiting the bears- they even had a sign for us. There were about 17 huge bears walking around. They were fat and lazy. I wasn't planning on getting out of the car but everyone else did and I thought I should get in the picture to prove I was actually there. I ran to the car as fast as I could and just watched them. Everyone else got too close for comfort. I'm glad we did it though!

The weather ended up being beautiful towards the end of the week. I loved having no humidity! I miss it already. :)

There was a guy who worked on the campgrounds that had the strongest Canadian accent I had ever heard. It's so funny. Him and a lot of the Canadians say "eh" a lot. I could of listened to them all day. :)

Talking about a small world....they called the camp "little Iowa". There were several Iowans there which was crazy to me. I talked to a couple of guys who were from around this area and they even bought their truck from the dealership I used to work at! So weird! I love small worlds. :)

One day we had a shore lunch which was fun. We took our freshly caught fish and cooked and ate them on the little island. Quite a fun experience.

The car ride home was long, very long. Adam remembered what it was like I think because he wasn't all that great. The ride up was much better.

As much fun as I had, I don't think I will take Adam and our future children on a trip like that again. It wasn't all that relaxing with him. There wasn't a lot for him to do which was hard. I think we will try that trip again in a few years when our kids are older.

That being said, I'm so happy we went and experience Canada and the beauty of it all. I enjoyed catching the fish. I didn't catch a ton, but enjoyed what I did do.

I posted some pictures... but there are a lot more. Take a look at my facebook if you don't have it already. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=470399&id=703425526&l=1d3e0f5db2

Family Update

2010-08-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

(Adam seeing Amos for the first time after we were in Colorado for the weekend. He held him for a long time... it sure melted my heart!)

Oh Pregnancy........
I sure love being pregnant and am so thankful for this baby, but man- I sure feel rotten. I think this time is so much worse than my pregnancy with Adam. I tried to get my menu figured out for this week so I can feed my husband, but the thought of food or even looking at a recipe title made me sick. I thought I had thicker skin, but I guess not. :) Hopefully this will dwindle away because my first trimester is wrapping up quickly.

I had my first midwife appointment. It was such a beautiful sound to hear the heart beat of our precious baby. It doesn't get much better than that!

We are going to Canada tomorrow! We have been staying busy every day and night getting ready. There are 14 of us going up in 4 cars. We are going with the Vinchattle's. We have a couple of cabins. It will be fun. I look forward to catching a huge fish- that's my goal. I am really nervous about the very long drive up there with Adam. If you think about it- please pray for my stomach and Adam. Hopefully there will be enough people in the car to keep him entertained.

Adam has been a joy. He has a bigger vocabulary every day. Now we drive down the road and he points out cars and trucks. I personally think he is quite bright. He has started laughing a lot- not just giggling or smiling. We love that guy. He is going to be such a great big brother.

(Why not wear diapers on your head?)

(My serious boys, even with a yogurt mustache :)

Adam, Adam....

It might be a good time to get out of the country with all the rain and floods here. I feel so bad for all my friends and family in Ames. They have no water and can't get out. I had several things to do in Ames today before our big trip but I guess it won't happen. Sadly our video camera is being repaired at Best Buy in Ames. We were hoping to take that for our vacation. Oh well!

Off to bed- I will try to update some while we are in Canada. We won't have phone reception but will have the internet.

Later!

Colorado!

2010-07-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Colorado! Adam and I had such a great time. Thank you to the Johnson's for hosting us. Both Adam and I really enjoyed your hospitality, great food, great entertainment, and quality time we got to spend with you all.

Adam and Micah are getting closer to enjoying each other. They still won't sit there and play with each other. It might be a while before that happens. They sure are cute together though!

We had plenty of time to relax but also kept busy with fun things to do. There sure is a lot more to do in Colorado, especially when you live in the suburbs.

The weather was wonderful. I couldn't get over how they could leave doors and windows open and there were no bugs flying in. I don't think I saw one mosquito the whole time. Must be nice..plus no humidity!

I am so happy I went and had a great time. Adam did very well on the flights. Instead of sleeping he decided to laugh at others around him and wave and tell them "hi". I was very pleased.

Next big trip...Canada!

Please excuse the lack of pictures. You will have to click below to browse through them. My computer is acting up and this is a lot easier! Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=444089&id=703425526&l=fd2a3b5cc7

Life, Life, Life

2010-07-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon friends.

Not a lot to share... but just wanted to say hello and post some new pictures.

This past weekend we had our fun church conference at Hidden Acres. It was so much fun to see friends. We had a lot of kids between all of us- so fun.

Adam has a new habit. We tickle him a lot and say tickle, tickle. I guess he picked up on that and says it in his own little language and tries to tickle every kid he sees. I feel bad as the kid looks up at me scared as can be but I try to reassure them that he is being a little too friendly and it's okay. Then they usually smile and try to tickle him back. I need to video tape it so you can here how funny it is when he says tickle, tickle, tickle. It makes us laugh every time.

Adam is definitely understanding more. I think I am going to get him going on some sign language. He is very capable now. Sometimes he is a bit too smart. :)

Besides our fun weekend life is normal, busy.

I'm feeling pretty good in my pregnancy so far. I'm still tired but feel okay. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am actually pregnant. We have started the name-picking discussions... and it hasn't been easy. I hope we can decide on one... at least we have several months! :)

Bye for now!

Me and my sweet husband

Adam enjoying swimming

Adam enjoying playing with my pregnancy tests!

Me and my positive test

Sweet boy enjoying the truck

Adam went on his over night without his parents. He did well, but it was weird not having him home. We might try it again someday. Thanks Greene's!

Me and Ruthann as they were on their way to move to Philadelphia

50 Things You Might Not Know About Me....

2010-06-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

I think I have heard in the blogging world that you are supposed to blog 100 things about yourself once you have posted 100 blogs. I am way past that... and don't know if there are 100 interesting things about myself. So, I am going to give you 50!

- I am the first born of 4 children. All our names start with "R" and are in alphabetical order- Rachel, Rebekah, Ruthann, and Ryan.

-I want to have 4 or 5 kids, Amos would be happy with 3. We'll have 4 :)

-My parents were going to name me Kimberly. They changed it for some reason. They had the name Ryan picked out for all of us girls. We are happy they finally had a boy!

-My husband fit all the detailed, nit-picky things I had in a "desirable things in a husband" list I made when I was 12. He also hit all the more mature things I desired when I was older- he was made for me!

-If I had a lot of money, I would have fresh flowers all over my house.

- I became a born-again Christian at a young age of 6 or so. Sadly, I don't remember many details, but I know my life was changed from that moment.

- My childhood dream was to be an elementary teacher and a mom.

-I consider myself to be a loyal friend. I love all my friends.

- When we fix up our house someday and sell it, we want to build a house in the country. I want a big open floor plan so I can have lots of parties.

-My middle name is Susan, pronounced Suzanne. It is a 4th generation middle name. When we have a girl someday ( Lord willing :) her middle name will be Susan, although we are going to spell it Suzanne so she doesn't have people confuse her name like I had.

- When I was a little girl, I wanted twin daughters name Makayla and McKenzie- not sure if I want twins now. I'll take whatever I get. :)

- I am living my dream- married to a very good-looking Christian man and being a mother. I am so happy.

-I believe I had the best childhood ever. We had amazing parents that loved us, raised us well, disciplined us well, and never let us know we were poor! :)

-I don't eat the ends of things. I will take the first bite but will always leave the other end. No idea when this happened or why. Someone pointed it out to me a few years ago.

- When I was 11 I actually wanted glasses. Boy do I regret that wish!

- I want to have eye surgery so I don't have to wear glasses or contacts anymore!

- My Mom and sisters are my best friends....

- After my husband :)

- I pray for our children's salvation a lot- I'm striving to do it daily.

- I have a lot of weird dreams. I used to write them down so I could read them for future entertainment. If you are reading this, I have probably have had dreams about you. I dream about a lot of random people even if I have not seen or talked to them. I usually pray for them.

- I went to Emmaus Bible College for one semester. Yes, I am a college drop-out.

- I left Emmaus to be a nanny in New Mexico for a year-and-a-half.

-I was a nanny for three young boys. It was a hard time but I learned a lot.

- I want my children to be very well-behaved, but strive to have grace while disciplining them and really strive to display the love and grace of the Lord.

- I was a waitress at Valentino's from ages 15-18. It was a great first job.

- My sophomore year of high school I was able to be a nanny in the Cayman Islands for a week. It was amazing.

-I was voted "most respected" in my senior class.

- I was on the homecoming court also.

- I sometimes wish I was a little girl still and had the wonderful imagination that could keep me occupied for hours. I can't wait to see my kids use theirs. :)

- When me and my sisters were kids, we played house all the time. I was a bossy oldest sister and made myself the mom or teacher. I always made Rebekah the man and poor Ruthann, she was always the cat. :)

- Our Christmas traditions in the Hamby house are some of the best memories I have.

- I love natural childbirth and everything it entails.

- I love being pregnant!

- If I could do some things over, I think I would love to go to culinary school. I wouldn't want to cook in a restaurant, but for my friends and family. I love it!

- I love reading food blogs.

- I love reading DIY ( do-it-yourself) blogs and want to start doing more fun things for my house.

- I daydream a lot.

- I am a big journaler. I have been since I was an awkward preteen. Those journals are fun to read!

- My favorite candy is chocolate-covered gummy bears.

- My Dad is an awesome man. Too many awesome things to start listing.

- I got my first pet when I lived in Texas. I wanted to name her DJ after my favorite character on Full House. My Mom bribed me to name her Beauty if we went to see Beauty and the Beast in theaters. That was a while ago!

- I was born in Springfield, Missouri.

- I lived in three different cities in Texas until I moved to Ankeny when I was 12.

- I can't wait to start traditions with my family. I love traditions!

- I am super sentimental- just like my Grandma Hamby. I will be the one in 50 years that has all the pictures organized from the past 70 years. I love stuff like that.

- I love being an aunt- I want to be the favorite aunt to all of them! :)

- My favorite comfort foods are chicken Alfredo and macaroni and cheese.

- My husband is the best gift to me- he's amazing.

- I am 10 years older than my little brother Ryan. I love that kid.

- When I was in high school I used to be pretty musical. I was in the choir, played piano, and loved learning the guitar. I should of stayed with them!

- Amos and I are expecting our precious second baby towards the end of February. I can't wait to meet him/her. We are open to name suggestions!

Adam's First Birthday and Family Time!

2010-06-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we had Adam's first birthday party. In the midst of having fun getting ready for that, Ruthann and Rafferty flew in and then my wonderful Grandparents from Texas drove in. It was hectic but wonderful. We had a great turn out at the party. Adam loved all the attention. He ended up falling asleep towards the end, but overall he was perfect. He had his first dose of sugar. We tried to hold off until his first birthday for that. My Mom spoiled him by giving him a second cupcake as soon as the chocolate one was gone- she said he needed to try a vanilla too. Such a wonderful Grandma! :)

After Adam's party we all drove to DeWitt for the rest of the weekend. Rebekah and her guys met us at Mom and Dad's and we got to spend time together. It was a wonderful weekend. It was fun to have all the boy cousins together for the first time. They don't pay too much attention to each other yet, but that will come in time. I loved spending quality time with my sisters, like late nights chatting in bed. It was perfect.

Here are some pictures. I have too many to share so I am going to post some of the links to my facebook account so those of you who don't have facebook can check them out.

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=435556&id=703425526&l=036187853d

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=435550&id=703425526&l=4002af57c4

Adam's first year!

2010-06-12T08:15:00.001-07:00

Hello blogger friends!

I know it has been way too long since I last blogged. It seems harder and harder to find time to get things fun things like blogging accomplished. It has been on my to-do-list which never seems to get smaller.
I'm not complaining- I love our life and the craziness it brings.

I have a lot to blog about- but want to start with an overview of our last year with our firstborn Adam James. His birthday was May 29. We had a great time and a great weekend with friends and family. ( I will post more about that later!)
To start, look at Adam's first month picture with his teddy bear to his last 12-month picture. It makes me want to cry. He grew so quickly!

Here are some of our favorite pictures throughout the year. I have too many to count, but will post the best of the best, in our opinion at least!

After a great labor, and 2 hours of pushing, us examining our precious son and realizing he has a dimple!Amos and I had such a great year as first-time parents. God blessed us with such a precious baby. He has been such an awesome addition to our small family. Every month has brought more fun and adventure. Adam has gone to a tiny, frail baby to a big 1-year old who is practically running around our home. He loves his parents and a lot of other family and friends. He greets everyone he comes across, at the store or church or wherever he is. He usually gets greeted with a smile and a compliment of how adorable he is. We think so!

He stared walking around 11-months and has gotten so good at it. He isn't crawling much anymore. He loves to move quickly.

Adam is a good sleeper ( probably around 12-13 hrs per night), a great eater ( he eats almost anything I put on his plate), a great entertainer ( today he learned that if his stomach hit the table then the table moved which moved the flower centerpiece), a great love ( he is always up for hugs and kisses), a big talker ( besides him saying a lot of words we don't understand, he says uh-oh meaning oops, bye-bye, momma, dada, he tries to say grandma, and says papa a lot), a great source of joy for us and anyone he meets, and just such a blessing.

We pray for him continually....and pray that we can be good parents for this precious boy.

This first year has been amazing, and look forward to the many other years we will have from now on.

Happy Birthday Adam! We love you!!!

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

I love being a mother- and I love that I had my first Mother's Day with my baby. It was a bit different last year when I couldn't hold him in my arms. He is so sweet and precious. My mother's Day gift from Adam. Cuddling time. I could do that all day long.

And here is to my great mother's who love me and love my baby.

I love you both!

Adam's First Blog Post

2010-05-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well Hello!!!

Adam here!

I thought I would help my Mom

every once-in-a-while and blog from my perspective.

I have a lot to say about almost everything.

There is a lot going on...

did you hear that I am almost 1? I am so

excited for my first birthday party. I know

my Mom is having fun planning my big day.

I even get to meet my new cousin, Rafferty, who is

coming to town.

Last weekend my Mom and I went to DeWitt to see my

wonderful Papa, Grandma, Uncle Ryan, Zucco, Chloe, and Monet.

We had a house full!

Uncle Ryan had his first prom that night. There are some pictures below.

Here is a picture of my Mom and Uncle Ryan. I guess my Mom loves to cuddle with Ry-Ry, even though he pretends not to enjoy it.

Here is another picture of my Uncle Ryan and Mom. My Uncle really enjoys standing out and being a little different. He didn't want a normal tux, so he got a suit that was from the 70's- like a long time ago.... I think that was even before my Grandparent's were born! He looked really cool though. My Grandma was happy because she didn't have to spend a lot of money on him. :)

Oh, what a cute picture of Uncle Ryan... and me. We are best buds.

This is Zucco and Ryan. Zucco isn't too fond of me. All I want to do is play with him!

I don't know what is going on in the picture above. I think I am yelling at Zucco to get out of Papa's garden.

Anyway, I had a great weekend with my family. My Grandma loves taking me to her bank and showing me off. I show them my dimples as much as I can.

Oh, something else fun.... I almost learned to walk when I was there. For some reason, I really enjoy learning new things every time I visit. When I was just a baby, I was on Grandma and Papa's bed when I first decided to start sitting up by myself. Then, a few months ago, I decided to learn to crawl up the stairs by myself while I was there.

And, last weekend I decided it was about time for me to start walking. Mommy closed the door to my room once and as soon as she opened it, I just walked out. You should of seen her face! :)

I don't have it down completely, but I am getting better every day. It is such a fun game to see how far I can walk to Mom and Dad before falling down.

So, that's about all for now. Maybe I will write again soon if I have something exciting to say.

Thanks for reading!

Adam James Greene

Blessed

2010-04-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Blessed..... I am so blessed!!!

I thank God every day for giving me the opportunity to stay at home with Adam. It has been such a dream come true.

We love being home, going on walks, going to the park, playing outside......

I love raising him (and with Amos.... it is planting season though,

so their quality time is limited :(

I am staying busy with Adam and work. We love the flexible schedule that lets us do what we want and have time to go out and spend time with people if we can.

Adam is growing leaps and bounds. He is a fun kid... and so happy! He's layed back and funny. He took his first couple steps the other day. It hasn't really happened again, but at least it happened. He's very close to walking. Any day now... no rush for me though!

We are getting close to Adam's first birthday. Wow! This year has flown!

Here are some new pictures.

This week Grandma took Adam to the zoo for the first time. He loved it! Every time he saw an animal his face was curious. He always looked at my face to see if he should be scared or happy. After he saw me smiling, he smiled and giggled at all the animals. He even got excited over the normal birds flying through the zoo. :)

Last weekend we went on a little boating outside/picnic. It was wonderful. Adam just loved reaching over and splashing the water. Oh the simple things......

This past week we went to Veisha- Adam's first parade. He loved it. The big balloons were his favorite. I think that's all I am going to get him for his birthday- a room full of balloons!

I don't know why I took this picture. It was funny at the moment. He was tired... obviously. This never happens.

Last Friday night I couldn't sleep which was weird. I kept thinking what if something was wrong with Adam or something. Anyway, I checked on him and he was sleeping like this.... this was two nights in a row. I stopped taking pictures after that.

6-Month Pics

2010-04-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

I know Adam is almost 11-months old, but I got these pictures back from Rebekah Stephenson and just had to post them. I think he has changed so much already. He's so cute.

Just a few more pics......

2010-04-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

My Mom wanted this shot of him with her card. He still has cute sleepy eyes

Adam's first Easter Basket

Adam has started to enjoy playing in the curtains

Adam loves bath time

Cutie

Enjoying being outside

My son loves pickles!

Crawling under tables is quite an adventure!

Adam learned how to crawl up stairs,,,,, oh boy!

Texas Trip

2010-04-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Finally, a few minutes to sit down and blog.

I feel like I need a little vacation when I get back from vacation with all the stuff that needs to be done.

We had such a great time down South. I was so happy and thankful my Dad got to travel with me and Adam. He was such a help, especially on the plane. Adam didn't think he needed to sleep so that was a fun experience. He did really well anyway. He is a very vocal child so even if he is happy, he is making noise. Love him to death.

My trip started off with a fun surprise when I walked into my Grandparent's house and completely surprised my Grandma. She had no idea Adam and I were coming. That made my trip right there. She screamed several times and finally got around to hugging me. So funny.

I got some great quality time with all my aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, grandparents, and lots of cousins. Adam soaked up all the attention and was such a ham for everyone. We got to spend a couple days in East Texas at my Aunt and Uncle's house. It is so beautiful there. Adam got to enjoy the country and see all sorts of animals and the lake. We had fun!

The reason for us going was to celebrate Papa and Grandma's 50th Anniversary. We had a great party with a lot of extended family. We hope they felt loved. My Aunts did a great job putting that together.

One of the highlights of my trip was being able to look into my Granny's house that we grew up in. I know it sounds silly, but that has always been something I have wanted to do. She lived there until the mid 90's and it has changed a lot on the outside. My Dad courageously knocked on their front door and told them we had grown up there and they graciously let us look through their house. They were trying to sell the house, so it was ready for company. Funny enough, the man of the house had a whole binder of the history of the house and saw my Great Grandpa's name. They were also very interested in hearing what the house looked like when we spent a lot of time there. It was bittersweet for me. Thanks Dad for being so brave!

So, to wrap this up. It was so nice to get away and enjoy my family. I miss all those Texans!

Here are some pics of the week...........

My Grandma and Beautiful Aunt Ju Ju

Just a small portion of the people at the party

Me and Adam in East Texas. Such beautiful land!

I am so thankful the Eikners traveled to see us. It was wonderful!

Me and my beautiful Great Aunt, Shelly.

Papa and Grandma with their scrapbook my Mom made.

Me and my girl cousins

Me and my Grandma- love her!

Shopping downtown McKinney

Me getting ready for the party

I am back!

2010-04-01T13:23:00.001-07:00

I am back from Texas!

I have a lot of pictures to post!

I will do that as soon as possible!

Baby Boy Number Three!!!

2010-03-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

Dustin and Ruthann welcomed Rafferty Kipling (named after our Dad ) Jizmejian this morning in Colorado. We are so excited for them and so excited that Adam and Micah have another boy to play with. It's going to be a lot of boys growing up together. We can't wait.

Ruthann had the perfect birth. It sounded a lot like mine. Her water broke yesterday. She stayed at home for a long time until the contractions were really bad. She did such a great job. She did it naturally like her sisters. I was on the phone while she was giving birth. It was such a fun surprise to hear it was a boy, even though we all thought it was a boy.

He is a tiny guy- only 5 pounds 11 oz.

I so wish I was there with my family. It is killing me. Hopefully sometime soon we can get all the sisters together with their boys.

A Chapter Closed

2010-03-05T06:12:00.001-08:00

After a week of being done at Wilson Toyota, I am finally getting around to blogging! I had expectations of having a lot of free time, then I was reminded that Adam is top priority!

Last Thursday I closed up a big chapter in my life, a 5 1/2 year chapter. I left feeling sad, emotional, and super excited and blessed about the change.

I was just pondering about big " chapters" in my life.

I categorized them as:

"The Texas Chapter"

( I was cute, yep, I know. My sisters called this the "turtle" stage for me)

"The Ankeny Chapter"

"The Ames Chapter"

A lot of great memories... too many to post.

Ballard High School. I even played tennis!

My 4-year-long position at Valentinos!

My great years at Ballard High School!

My lazy teenage years at our busy come-and-go house on Jensen. So many good memories there with our youth group and church.

I have many more things to say about the Ames chapter, but I have to stop somewhere!

"Emmaus Bible College Chapter"

I have tons of pictures of that chapter, I'm just having a hard time finding them!

"The New Mexico Nanny Chapter"

"My Amos Chapter"Dating

Engagement Marriage

"Our Getting our First House Chapter"

(I think we will always be in this chapter)

"Our Adam Chapter"

Starting a new Chapter!!!

I went through some important life chapters while I was at Wilson's. They were with me when I started dating Amos, our engagement and marriage, our house purchase, and then they were so involved with Adam and his life.

I have a lot of good memories there. I met a lot of great people. It was so awesome to have some of my bosses that were Christians. How often does that happen in the work place?

I loved my job. I started as the receptionist/accounts receivable/customer service then was advanced to the new sales administrator position that I created as I went.

That was fun and different.

I am going to miss those salesmen and their families, all the wonderful ladies I worked with, and being at a place I really respect and love. I had such a blessed last day at Wilson's. The ladies in the office surprised me with Mac and Cheese from the Cafe ( so awesome! ) a cake shared with Eric who has left also, and a few gift cards worth hundreds. I was overwhelmed! Thank you everyone for your generosity!
Thank you so much Suzy for your help and blessing. I can't say thank you enough!

But now, I am more excited to be able to stay home with Adam and be his mother. I love raising our child so far. We are trusting that God will provide everything we need. I have really enjoyed doing the book work for Farmhouse Catering so far. It is so nice that Evie and I live down the street from each other. I have stayed busy so far!

Here are a couple of pics from my last day at Wilson Toyota

A Life Worth Celebrating!

2010-02-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

We are home from a very quick and busy weekend in Lawrence, Kansas. We had a great time with family while were down there. Adam was so well-behaved. It was awesome being able to celebrate with my Grandpa- a man worth celebrating. I think he felt blessed with all of us there. It was enjoyable to hear him tell some stories of his life when he was growing up. Wow- we have it good!

We drove through some fun winter weather. I'm so thankful Amos is such a good driver.

Now I am down to 2 days left at Wilson Toyota. Wow!

Here are some more pictures of our weekend and month if you are interested in looking.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=388267&id=703425526&l=169426361a

We have teeth!

2010-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

After it seems of many months of "teething", Adam's first tooth ( or teeth? ) has arrived! I don't know how much it is affecting him physically, but all he wanted to do today was lay on my chest and cuddle with me. I didn't mind too much! Hopefully it won't get much worse.

Tomorrow morning we are heading to Lawrence, Kansas for Adam's Great-Great Grandpa's 95th Birthday! We are excited.

We hope we are all well for the trip. I was very sick yesterday and sadly quickly passed it onto Amos today. Hopefully Adam will stay well.

Until next time!

My Loves

2010-02-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

I love my husband and Son.

That's all I have to say about that.

Here are some of my favorite things about Adam.

I love spending time with him.

I love going to his nursery and getting him out of his bed, ( he acts like it has been days since he has seen me!)

I love laying on the floor and playing with him ( he rarely has a time when he isn't climbing all over me)

I love his dimple

I love how I can't keep him clean when I feed him

I love his smile and his laugh and his personality

I love how he is so in love with his Dad. It melts my heart all the time

I love that he is growing up quickly, but not too quickly

I love that he prefers to stand up and walk with help- forget crawling ( I have a feeling he might walk before crawling.... we'll see how it goes)

I love the kisses he gives me, with mouth wide open mostly

I love how he tries to be funny sometimes, it starts early!

I love how he randomly just wants to cuddle on my chest, and sometimes fall asleep like that

I love him and am so excited to see him grow up!

Below are a few pictures of our Greene Christmas we had recently. Because Nancy was in Switzerland, we postponed Christmas. It was a nice relaxing time, and all the Greene kids were able to come expect Lydia.

Missing Julie

2010-01-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

This morning I got an email from Luke Ulrich, who is the husband of our previous baby-sitter, neighbor, friend, and sister in Christ. As upsetting it was to hear such sad news that Julie had passed away after I had woken up, we are rejoicing that this morning she woke up in the arms of Jesus, and is spending eternity worshipping him. Wow!

It happened a lot more quickly then I had expected. I obviously hadn't spent a lot of time with her or her family lately, but she had been given a few weeks since her chemo wasn't working anymore and her liver wasn't working. The doctor told them she would be sleeping a lot and would probably pass away in her sleep, which happened.

We are sad and grieving for her family who is going to have to live their lives without a wife or mother. Thankfully they all have their faith in the Lord, the Lord of hope, love, and comfort. I just pray that along with me, their church family, and their friends can really help a now single Father.
So sad.

Look-Alikes

2010-01-25T11:33:00.001-08:00

Do you think Adam and I look alike?

Iced-In!

2010-01-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Adam and I are enjoying a beautiful day at home while being iced in. We are both missing Amos very much while he is in Wisconsin this week for work training. If he was here, I would of traveled to work with him today. But without him, I am scared to death to travel on ice. Now we are praying the electricity stays on. It has flickered many times today.

We had a great weekend with my sister Ruthann in town. I gave her a little shower for her upcoming baby. I hope she had fun and felt blessed. I know she wasn't happy, but I enjoyed her an extra night because her flight got cancelled because of the fog.

That's about all going on right now!

Here are some pictures of the weekend and a few extra. I also attached a couple of videos, mostly so Amos can see Adam while he is away!

Our Pickle-Loving Bulldog Baby Boy

2010-01-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

My sister Rebekah has mentioned that Adam stands like a bulldog. I haven't really noticed it until I saw this picture. I think it is funny. Amos was eating lunch the other day and Adam grabbed the pickle off his plate and would not give it back. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures.

I just thought this was a cute picture.

Life

2010-01-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy, sad, happy, emotional, and hopeful. We had a wonderful trip to Colorado for Christmas and stayed with my sister and her family. It was fun to have the cousins together again.
It was special to have Adam's first Christmas. He loved eating the wrapping paper more than the gifts. We all came home sick, but now are recovering and getting back to our normal life.

We heard on our way to Colorado that Amos' Grandmother passed away. It was difficult. We had visited them back in August and she was doing well. Very sad. As soon as we got home, we headed off to Minneapolis for the funeral.

Amos' Mom missed her first flight to Switzerland to be there for the birth of Lydia and Danny's baby. Thankfully she got another flight and was able to get there in enough time to be there for the birth of their baby, Ryan Edward.

In the joy of the Meier and Young babies, there was also the sorrow of the little Moffit baby girl not surviving a premature birth. We are praying for you Moffits! I also had a very hard phone call today from the wonderful lady who has been taking care of Adam twice a week. She has been struggling with cancer and told me that the doctors are saying she has 6-8 months to live. I am just mourning and so deeply sad for her. She has an awesome family and I am so incredibly thankful that her and her family are born-again Christians who love the Lord. We are praying for her so much and her family.

So, there have been a lot of emotions. God has answered prayers concerning our future with staying at home. I will let you know more later! I am praying I can find help with Adam due to Julie's illness.

That is life wrapped up in a nutshell right now. More to come!

Adam

2009-12-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

What to do on a snowy day stuck inside? Take pictures of our beautiful baby. I wanted to take some pics of him outside in the snow because it was his first snow, but I couldn't do that to my sweet baby. So, we played inside. Here are a couple cute pictures and a couple videos. Nothing too spectacular, but still cute.

Mowaks and Amos' Birthday

2009-12-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today was Amos' birthday so we went out to Red Lobster, where of course I got the chicken alfredo. It was nice. Adam was good until he woke up from his nap. One of these days we hope to get out by ourselves, or maybe we'll just go out after 8 so Adam will sleep the whole time. :)
We are going to go finish up Amos' 28th birthday by watching a movie of his choice in front of our fire. Nice and relaxing.

We have noticed how much hair is growing on Adam's head. It seems like overnight he has grown enough hair to make a little mohawk and his eyelashes have grown a ton. You probably can't really tell he has a mohawk, but it's there! Isn't he beautiful?

6-Months Old

2009-12-02T19:26:00.001-08:00

As I was taking pictures of my 6-month old, I realized how old he is getting and how much he is changing because I could not get a good picture of him! He does this thing where he will not sit up straight and arches his back and wants to lay down. I thought this would be the best month for these pictures because he can sit up by himself, but I guess not. He desired to tackle the teddy bear instead and sit or lay in a more comfortable position. We love this kid!

Happy Birthday Amos!!!

2009-12-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

My sweet husband is 28 years-old today!!!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life, my best friend, my guy.

My man who loves me unconditionally, who is a servant, who is Godly, who is a great Father, who doesn't complain about anything, who has a great attitude about everything, who makes our house happy and complete. I love you baby!

Happy Birthday.....

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

I don't often post without pictures, but I just want to express my thankfulness this year. Not that I haven't been thankful in years before, but I just want to tell you how thankful and happy I am. Something I am working on in my life is to see the cup half-full compared to half-empty. I don't enjoy thinking that way, so I am trying to change my attitude!

*I am so thankful for my salvation and relationship with Christ. I am so easily sidetracked and overwhelmed with the busyness of life that I often take advantage of the gift I have been given- thanks to a wonderful Christian home and family that helped lead me to Christ.

*I am so thankful for my husband of four years. Not only is he gorgeous, his insides are beautiful and he is truly an amazing husband. I love how we know each other so well and have a bond no one else can fill. I love that he is Godly and desires to lead me and our family in the same way. He's such a great father to Adam and such a great husband to me.

*I am so thankful for my beautiful son. I have only been a mother a few months, but it is such a remarkable experience to have, and for that I am so thankful. I am so thankful to the Lord that my pregnancy and delivery went so well. I think over and over again how blessed I was to have the perfect delivery that I prayed for and planned for. Thank you Lord! I love our son so much and can't wait to see him grow and hope to help him be thankful also.

*I am so thankful for a beautiful home that will be more beautiful someday... :)

*I am so thankful that we can pay our bills and know we will be taken care of. We both have great jobs that treat us very well. As much as I yearn and pray for something else to be able to stay home, I am thankful I have a job when a lot of people don't have jobs right now, and it is a job that works with me and our schedule.

*I am so thankful for my parents and Amos' parents that have stayed married. It's such a good thing that often isn't the case anymore.

*I am so thankful for my siblings and their spouses. I have to say, my two sisters (and Mom of course) are my best friends. After being with my sisters this weekend I was reminded of how much I love them and how much I enjoy being with them. As they would probably agree, I act a little different around them, meaning I laugh and act a little weirder than normal. It's fun to do that every once and a while. Anyway, I am so thankful I have them as my best confidants and loyal supporters. I love you girls!

* I am thankful that I have a future that is promised, secure, and exciting. I look forward to what will happen, and so look forward to my eternity with Jesus. I love that I have future that is promised. So exciting!

Hamby Family 2009

2009-11-24T15:44:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dining Room Done... For Right Now....

2009-11-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our finished dining room. Well, besides windows,floor, and a much needed new table which will happen some day. I'm just excited to get one room done. We're happy how it turned out.

Cast your vote!

2009-11-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

We finally got our dining room painted!!!

One room half-way done, about a dozen more to go! :)

I have had several color choices that I couldn't decide on for the life of me, then Amos and I found a color that we both liked and we did it. It wasn't even a color we were interested in at the beginning.

Which one do you think it is??????

Here are some before shots of our dining room. Boring and ugly!

Next week all my siblings and parents come to town, and I am overly excited. I haven't seen Ruthann since May when Adam was born and I haven't seen the Johnson's since August. They are coming for a wedding that my Dad is doing and Ruthann is a bridesmaid/Thanksgiving. I am hosting all the Hamby kids and their spouses, and Micah of course. It will be so much fun having a house full. We have a lot of cleaning and prepping to do still, hopefully it will all get done!

I'm sure I will have a lot of pictures to post.

Until next time!

Okay, I will give you a snapshot of what color we did. It made the room much darker and very cozy, which we wanted. I will post more pictures soon after I decorate and get the finished project.

Adam is bad! :)

2009-11-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

Adam is bad.... I turned around to get his food off the counter and he had very quickly grabbed some bread from the bowl and helped himself to eating it. It made me laugh that he would think to do that because he has never eaten normal food! He must learn a lot from us. So cute.

I love being a mom!!

Click on the link below......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-2kEnz97eI

5 Months Old!!!!

2009-10-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

Our Little Lion

2009-10-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

It's a litle early for Halloween, but we had a harvest party at our church and I had to dress up our Adam in this cute costume. Thankfully it was quite warm and I don't think he even knew he was wearing it. He is so cute......

Look at that smile.... he just melts my heart!

Not too much to blog about....

2009-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on these days besides working, cooking, cleaning, taking care of a sweet baby, and Amos working until 12 some nights because of the harvest season. We are enjoying life and each other. Here are some recent pictures.

We are excited that Adam ate his first rice cereal!

This is me trying to feed him.... not much of it stayed down... we'll try again!

I don't like when Amos does this....:)

Adam playing.......

Adam playing with his Great-Great Grandma Wooldridge

Adam playing with this new friend Tucker Houck.

Here is a link to some fun pics I created and following are some examples.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=323688&id=703425526&l=c3bedcaa9d

My hubby was adorable!! ( He still is.....)

2009-09-29T10:20:00.001-07:00

I got some of these old pics from the Greene's this weekend just love some of them. Amos was so adorable, along with the rest of his siblings. I hope Adam starts to look more and more like him.

What do you think of the hair? :)

Esther and Joel's Wedding

2009-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

We had a great time this weekend with family and friends at Esther and Joel's wedding. It was a beautiful weekend and we are so happy for them.

The Newlyweds

The Greene Brothers

The Greene Family

Mr. Adam Greene

Uncle Jeremiah and Adam

Esther and Joel Meeder

Amos and Rachel Greene

Overnight Changes!

2009-09-22T10:52:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA1CsXGdIPg

(You might have to push play to get it going... it wasn't working well?)

(Click on the above link to have a conversation with Adam!)

Adam has changed.... like overnight! It's crazy.

Some of our new favorite things about Adam:

*He sleeps through the night.... so wonderful.

*He is so cute.

*He found his arms the other day and enjoys them.

*He also found his hands and it's cute to see him slobber or play with them.

*He has beautiful eyes.

*He is getting more and more independent and can actually hang out by himself some.

*He is getting really close to rolling over... I can't just put him on the table for a sec like I have been doing.

*He is talking up a storm and has so much to say.

*He is getting more fun and active and just so adorable.

*He laughs and giggles when I laugh at him.... so cute!

*He smiles so much... I can't help but smile back at him.

*He is getting close to being potty-trained.. just joking. Maybe in a few months. :)

We both love being parents. It's amazing how much joy they bring.

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I went to visit my family in DeWitt this weekend and had a great time.

I made it to Ryan's amazing cross country meet. He got 5th place out of hundreds of runners as a sophomore. I can't believe how proud I am of him.

We also got to watch him do a great job at his soccer game made up of select soccer players.

It was a busy, but relaxing weekend spent with my fun family.

Happy 4th Anniversary to my Amos!

2009-09-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Anniversary to my beloved Amos.

These have been the best four years ever and I look forward to many, many more. You are such a wonderful, Godly man and an amazing father to our Adam. Your faithfulness, unconditional love, encouragement, and love are things I don't deserve. Thank you for your awesomeness.

I love you!

Happy Anniversary!

A lot of firsts....

2009-09-11T05:53:00.001-07:00

Adam got to go to his first Iowa State game. He loved it! He was awed by the crowd and lights.

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Adam got to go to his first rodeo! He loved it!

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Adam got to sit in the booth by himself...... at least for a few seconds.

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Adam got his first camo hat. We went shopping and such in Des Moines for my birthday and he walked away with more new items than I did. I love shopping for him!

We also had a big tailgating party at Wilson Toyota and Adam got to meet Cy for the first time. Maybe next year he will be a litle more scared. It was fun.

Adam Went Shopping

2009-08-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Minneapolis this past weekend to visit Amos' grandparents. They had never met Adam so we thought we would enjoy one of our last weekends before Amos starts his busy harvest season. We had a relaxing time and they enjoyed meeting our baby. We went shopping and got some new adorable outfits for Adam to wear this fall. He is modeling a couple outfits for you below. If only he knew how adorable he is! :)

Our 3-Month Old

2009-08-31T17:07:00.001-07:00

We can't believe Adam is growing up so fast. It has been so fun lately. He is smiling and laughing and so cute. We are having so much fun watching him grow up. He is growing out of his clothes so quickly and his chubby rolls are multiplying. We love our boy!

Camping Trip!

2009-08-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun last weekend camping with our friends. It was Adam's first time camping and my second time. We had fun boating, eating, and spending time together around the camp fire. I hope this will be a new tradition for many years to come! Thanks Jenica for putting it all together for us. It was fun!

Baby Adam

2009-08-24T14:17:00.001-07:00

I got these beautiful pictures taken when Adam was only two weeks old. He looks so much different now! Thanks again Rebekah for beautiful work!

Grandma's 70th Birthday!

2009-08-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had a big get-together for my Grandma's 70th Birthday. It was fun to spend time with my Mom's side of the family. Here are pictures of this weekend!

Babies everywhere!

2009-08-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a clip of a Adam and Micah this past week. It sure is fun having them together. I know it will be more and more fun as they keep growing up,,, and after they get another cousin this March. We are so excited for Ruthann and Dustin!

Animoto.com

2009-08-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

Animoto.com

2009-08-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

Tennessee!!

2009-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

We had a great family reunion in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. We were blessed with several beautiful ( and huge ) cabins way up in the mountains. It was great spending time with a lot of extended family that we had not seen in about 8 years. We have all changed a lot since then!

Adam's first flight! He did so well. We had a guy next to us tell us he was aggravated that he had to sit by a baby but was so pleasantly surprised that he did so well. He said we had a great baby.... nice!

Uncle Ryan is the best uncle. He played and laughed with Adam a lot. He will be a fun guy to have around as our kids grow up!

All of the Hamby/Allen clan at our cabin... and we were still missing a lot of people!

Adam with his Great-Grandma "Nan"

A cute picture I captured of my two guys.

Adam and his Papa

Here are a few pics of us waiting in the airport... all day long! Both of our planes broke down so that caused us to miss flights. We finally got home at 3:00 in the morning.
Thank goodness Adam did well. It was a long day!

Good Bye, So Long!

2009-07-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to Tennessee.... but I wanted to post these pictures from recent. Adam is almost 2 months old so we had to take his pictures before we left.

The other pictures are from our weekend with the Greene Family. Amos' great aunt died so we had a big family reunion this weekend. Not everyone was pictured, but there were a lot of people here from all over the country. I enjoyed getting to know a lot of them and hear about the memories and history they had in Ames.